Cabin fever setting in?

With schools closed and kids all over the country forced to stay at home during the containment phase of the Covid-19 epidemic, parents are faced with two weeks worth of entertainment inspiration to create.

It’s still okay to get out for a walk in the fresh air as long as you heed social distancing advice but playdates are out.

Advice from Dr Muireann Ní Chroinín has been widely shared online, with the paediatric consultant at Cork University Hospital reminding parents “it’s really important that kids aren’t mixing with other kids while out of school.”

“In most epidemics, young children are the transmitters.” the post reads.

“They will give it to each other, silently pass it on to our loved ones. What we do now will contribute to how this develops in Cork.”

With that in mind, Cork folk have been sharing some brilliant ideas to ensure that youngsters don’t spend a fortnight in front of the TV.

1. Join the #WeWillDraw challenge

Dig out the crayons and markers; Cork artist for Marvel’s Star Wars and Spider-Man Will Sliney is posting a daily challenge for kids on Twitter, with families all over Ireland getting involved.

#wewilldraw prep done. Down to business 👍✏️ pic.twitter.com/TqxZvrsvgU

— Colum Foley (@columfoley) March 14, 2020

2. Hurling

Blackrock Hurling have put together some hurling-based challenges for kids to practice in the garden.

As we won’t be training this weekend we’ve put together some hurling & fitness challenges for the kids. There are adaptations for younger kids. Hopefully it helps to relieve the boredom and keep the spirits up 👍 💚💛 pic.twitter.com/ReDbRuIJi8

— Blackrock Hurling (@RockiesCork) March 13, 2020

3. Story Time with @Lauralolslots

Cork actress and comedian Laura O’Mahony will be reading a story live on Instagram every evening at 6pm. Thhis is bound to be as entertaining for parents as it is for kids.

Hey Twitter…..me again. Everyday….starting 2moro @6pm on instagram (lauralolslots)….I am going to read to my children and also to your children. Come on over and lets have a bloody ball #IrelandLockdown #coronavirus #craicandlols

— Laura O’ Mahony (@MrsLauraOMahony) March 14, 2020

4. Turbo colouring

Artist Alan Butler has kindly shared a Dropbox link to a high-res colouring book he’s been creating. You can print out a detailed image and get to work. Colouring in has been shown to be a great stress reliever so join in with the kids on this one.

Bored?

Here’s a dropbox link to a HIGH-RES sample of a colouring-book I’ve been making in my spare time. They are based on my paintings of desktop backgrounds.

Print it out and get to work!#LockdownIreland #lockdown #IrelandLockdown #COVID19 #colourshttps://t.co/UJrjWovyjK pic.twitter.com/HD5NWj0OeM

— ██████████████████████████████████████████████████ (@alan_butler) March 14, 2020

5. Make history fun

Spike Island has released an activity pack that might buy you an extra cup of coffee this week while ensuring the kids learn something new while they’re out of school.

FREE ACTIVITY MATERIALS- Looking to keep yourself or kids busy?
You can download our Spike APP FREE with audioguide, & we made our activity pack free to download, with word games, colour in &more. See https://t.co/7egEJX0txM #COVID19ireland #COVIDー19 #stayathome #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/qp6koHaHnx

— SpikeIslandCork (@SpikeIslandCork) March 14, 2020